So, the summer is ending and my hair is dry and brittle. I’ve always had coloured hair for really long time. I think I started when I was 17 or so. In the summer, it was really bad because the sun would metaphorically burn the colour of my hair out. But I didn’t know all this until recently. I just thought I have really bad hair. One day I was talking to my hair stylist about how dry my hair is, and he told me “you need heat protection for your hair! The sun damages your skin, why wouldn’t it damage your hair?” and I was like “WHY DIDN’T I THINK OF THAT BEFORE??”.

So that’s how I started using heat protection for my hair and I’ve used several different brands from drug store to high end brands. Never really settled for one but recently I received Garnier Fructis #ColorShild haircare series to test out from Influenster. I was really happy to see this because I really needed new haircare products at the moment.

As much as I love to keep the colour of my hair because it just makes me feel fresh to have my hair colour really stand out. (my hair is died pitch black right now!) I think it’s really hard to keep the colour in my hair because I blow dry everyday, and use hair iron sometimes. On top of that, the sun in Vancouver has been CRAZY this summer.

So I’ve been trying out the series for about a week now and GURL, I’m impressed! Let me be honest with you, I am not a big fun of Fructis. I used them back when I was in high school and it made my hair really dry. But this time, my hair was nice and smooth! It’s definitely not the most rich moisturizing hair product, but it just gives my hair enough moisture so it’s nice and silky. I think it’ll work for people with oily hair too.

My favourite out of 3 I have recived is the hair spray. I use it before going out in the sun and it just keeps my hair nice and smooth all day! (and it’s not greasy). I will give them my “Shield of Approval” for sure! LOL

I received this body cream as early Christmas gift from my mother-in-law. I am a big fan of this brand’s Rosewater hand cream. I’ve repurchased it so many times. Yet I’ve never tried their body cream, so I was pretty happy when I received it. I’ve seen their body cream in store before and I recall it was in a round shaped plastic jar, but I was pleasantly surprised when I opened the box and found this nice glass jar. I mean glass jars are heavy, easy to break, and difficult to carry around. But I usually don’t take the whole jar with me when I travel so it doesn’t matter. I like how it feels high quality and I think glass jars are more sanitary for some reason.

I used it for about 1 week now and I really like this body cream. First of all, I love rose scented products and Crabtree & Evelyn makes most amazing rose scented body care products in my opinion. So if you’re like me, it’s worth a try to check them out in store. (but even if you don’t like rose, they carry a variety of other scents!) The texture of the body cream is rich and thick, but it’s not sticky when massaged onto skin. My skin is nice and moisturized without feeling greasy. However, it is not the most moisturizing body cream so if you have very dry skin, this may not be the best body cream for you. For me, I like how light it feels after it’s absorbed and cloth won’t stick to my skin.

Pros:

Amazing rose scent

Moisturizing without being too heavy

Pretty packaging

Cons:

May not be easily avalable

Not suitable for extremely dry skin/weather

Expensive for body cream (CA$36 for 200g)

My Final Rating: 4/5

]]>https://kyo1986.wordpress.com/2012/12/18/crabtree-evelyn-rosewater-body-cream-review/feed/0kyo1986CrabtreeAndEvelyn_Rosewater_Body_CreamLoose Button Luxe Box Winter 2012 Canadian Editionhttps://kyo1986.wordpress.com/2012/12/14/loose-button-luxe-box-winter-2012-canadian-edition/
https://kyo1986.wordpress.com/2012/12/14/loose-button-luxe-box-winter-2012-canadian-edition/#commentsSat, 15 Dec 2012 00:48:46 +0000http://kyo1986.wordpress.com/?p=500]]>Sorry for not posting for a long time. I had my baby on November 25th and have been VERY busy since. Anyhow, I received my Winter Luxe Box today and thought it will be nice to share with you guys. Here is the photo of all the products. (Sorry about low quality photo)

I am pretty happy and excited about this box. As you can see, there are a couple of full size products and some decent sized samples. Here are some close-up photos of the products I received.

Kerastase – Cristalliste Lumiere Liquid

Essie – Nail Lacquer in She’s Pampered (Full Size)

B. Kamins Laboratories – Day Lotion SPF 15

Dermalogica – Precleanse

Tatcha – Original Aburatorigami (Full Size)

Schwarzkopf Professional – Dust It (Full Size)

Donna Karan – Woman

Loose Button – Kabuki Brush (Full Size)

(On the product list card, there are some products marked as “Rare Sample”. I wonder what that means…)

So this month, I am pretty sure it’s worth more than CA$26 that I paid. Kerastase Cristalliste Lumiere Liquid and Schwarzkopf Dust It were 2 products I got to pick from “First in Line” feature. I’ve used Dust It before so I know I like it. (and it’s a full size product!)

I’m happy with the skincare products I got. I am almost out of my day lotion so it’s perfect I get to try B. Kamins Day Lotion. I’m interested in the brand but never got around to try their products. Also, Dermalogica is one of my favourite skincare brand but I’ve never used their Precleanse before. So I’m excited to try new product from the brand.

The blotting paper has nice package design and is always nice to have some extra, but it’s not something I’m excited about. The Essie nail polish is nice too but I’m not a huge fan of red nail polishes. But it is holiday season and I will at least wear it several time so it’s still nice. I am not so excited about Donna Karan Woman perfume because I already sent a email request for fragrance-free box and they got back to me saying it’s noted in their system. Yet I still receive this perfume sample. I mean it is a very nice sample and the bottle looks very pretty but I am not in love with the scent and it will just end up being a decoration.

Last but not least, the Kabuki Brush is really nice! It has longer hair, shorter handle, is less round in shape, and less dense when compared to my MAC Kabuki (182 Buffer Brush), but it is still a very good quality brush. I will definitely use it with loose powders and mineral foundations.

overall, I am quite pleased with this winter edition; however, I already cancelled my subscription so I will not be receiving any more of Luxe Boxes in the future. I like Luxe Box in general, but I feel like monthly boxes are still more exciting than seasonal boxes.

Are you subscribed to Luxe Box? Let me know what you think of the winter Luxe Box in comment section!

]]>https://kyo1986.wordpress.com/2012/12/14/loose-button-luxe-box-winter-2012-canadian-edition/feed/13kyo1986luxebox_2012_winter_allluxebox_2012_winter_products01luxebox_2012_winter_products02Clarisonic Mia Review @ 1 weekhttps://kyo1986.wordpress.com/2012/11/16/clarisonic-mia-review-1-week/
https://kyo1986.wordpress.com/2012/11/16/clarisonic-mia-review-1-week/#commentsSat, 17 Nov 2012 06:44:13 +0000http://kyo1986.wordpress.com/?p=491]]>So it’s been a week since I got Clarisonic Mia and I’ve been using it every night. The sales representative at Sephora told me not to use it everyday in the beginning because my skin might react to it; however, my skin has been really good with the Clarisonic and hasn’t been sensitive or anything.

So here is how my skin looks as of now. You can enlarge the photo by clicking on it. (Warning! Won’t be a pleasant view!)

I’ve been having majour break-outs for about 2-3 weeks now. You can see my chin has a lot of red spots, which are the acne scars that I recently acquired (Boooo). I don’t know what the cause of the break-outs but I think it’s hormonal and I haven’t been getting enough sleep due to constant baby movement.

When I bought the Clarisonic, I had a really big zit on my chin that was ready to pop. I know, it’s gross right? I also had many small acne developing on my chin that are red and sore. So I wan’t sure if using Clarisonic was a good idea, because I was afraid it will pop the acne and damage the skin more. Well, I was way too excited to hold myself back so I used it anyways. (NOT recommended for everyone! Do not try this if you have severe acne problem…) As result, my almost exploding zit did not break and it did not irritate my skin at all! I was really happy and I continued to use Clarisonic every night after that.

During past 1 week, I did have to squeeze some of my pimple clean (eww) because they were way too painful. Again, this is not recommended because you have much higher chance of getting acne scar and contaminate nearby skin to have even more acne if you squeeze them. It is a bad habit that I just have to live with… With the help of Clarisonic, which I’ve been using with Fresh Soy Face Cleanser, I think my acne is somewhat under control now. I haven’t been getting as much acne as 2 weeks ago and those that I get are much smaller now. I also changed my skin serum from a hydrating serum to a skin regenerating serum, which seems like helping in combination with Clarisonic.

So far, I’m really loving Clarisonic because it cleanse my face really clean without stripping my skin. I will keep using it and keep you guys posted.

]]>https://kyo1986.wordpress.com/2012/11/16/clarisonic-mia-review-1-week/feed/4kyo1986clarisonic_1week_skinMy Favorite Tea at the Momenthttps://kyo1986.wordpress.com/2012/11/14/my-favorite-tea-at-the-moment/
https://kyo1986.wordpress.com/2012/11/14/my-favorite-tea-at-the-moment/#commentsThu, 15 Nov 2012 03:00:25 +0000http://kyo1986.wordpress.com/?p=486]]>Ever since I got pregnant, I’ve been avoiding caffeine. Although 2 cups of coffee a day is okay during pregnancy, I just didn’t wanna risk anything especially during the early stages of the pregnancy. (I’ve got back to some tea and decaf after 35 weeks, but only very little.) So during most of my pregnancy, I’ve been drinking fresh fruit juice or caffeine-free tea like rooibos tea. I’ve tried many different brands including Tazo from Starbucks and Tetley etc. etc… but in the end, I ended up liking PC brand tea from Superstore.

PC brand (Stands for President’s Choice) is the house brand of Canadian supermarket called Superstore. They make affordable alternative for, well, almost everything. I remember 5-10 years ago people considered PC brand being cheap and low quality, but I’ve noticed their products had really improved and some of their products are better than name brand products.

So these tea are regular price CA$2.49 for a box (20 individually wrapped tea bags). I try to buy them when they are on sale. They are actually on sale right now for CA$1.79 a box. They have many different kinds of herbal tea. The one in the photo is called Dreamland and it reminds me of Calm Tazo Tea. Of all the herbal tea I can get, my favourite is still rooibos tea. It is great hot, but it is AMAZING cold brewed. I drank rooibos tea like water during the summer. It not only tastes great, but is also great for digestive system.

If you’re looking for a caffeine-free tea, or you just like rooibos tea, definitely try the PC brand rooibos tea!

Blushers are very important aspect of makeup because they instantly bring life back to your face. If I had to choose only 1 colour product I can wear on my face (excluding foundation), I will choose a blush over eye shadow or lip stick any day. So as you can expect, I own a lot of blushers from drug store brands to high end brands. Among all the blushers I own, I always find myself reaching for Nars blushers, because they simply has best colour pay off and texture. So today, I would like to share my Nars Blush collection. This post is picture heavy!

Desire, Gina and Zen are matte colours, and Lovejoy, Orgasm, and Madly have very delicate shimmer in them. As you can see, Desire and Gina are a lot more pigmented than some of the other colours because they are matte. Obviously I would not wear them so dark on my cheeks but those are the colour that I need to be more careful when I apply. You may think Lovejoy, Madly and Zen look very much alike but they are quite different in person. Lovejoy is more rosey and it is more red than the other 2. Madly has nice soft pink undertone. Zen is more like a bronzer to me. I use Zen in stead of Laguna when I really don’t want any shimmer on my face.

Laguna is definitely my favourite bronzer and I use it quite often. It just gives my face really nice golden glow but not too shimmery. It’s probably really hard to see Albatross in the photo, but it is a very nice almost colourless highlight colour. It has slightly yellowish champagne undertone which just give you a beautiful glow. I tend to use it when I’m wearing matte blush.

During the spring and summer, my favourite blush to wear is Gina. Although it looks quite orange in the photo, it shows up a little more apricot on my cheeks and it makes me look really healthy and youthful. During the winter, my favourites are Lovejoy and Madly. They both look very sophisticated and stylish.

Although Nars blushes are expensive (CA$32 + tax), I really think they are worth the money. I just feel like I will never hit pan on these blushes because I only use so little every time. I definitely plan on buying more in the future.

So what do you think of Nars Blushes? What is your favourite blush (Nars or other)? Let me know in the comment section!

What they claim:
Our Soothing Facial Toner leaves your skin feeling clean and refreshed, plus it’s a perfect blend of our purest possible skin loving ingredients with an added vitamin.
1 ADDED VITAMIN PRO-VITAMIN B5 known to help restore, soften and smooth. 3 SKIN LOVING INGREDIENTS CHAMOMILE known to help gently soften and soothe, WITCH HAZEL known to help tone and tighten pores, ALLANTOIN known to help soften. NO DYES, NO ARTIFICIAL PERFUMES, NO HARSH IRRITANTS to upset skin.

I purchased this toner a while ago in the states. It had a coupon attached to it and the final price was only US$3.00. I think the price of this toner ranges somewhere from CA$7.00 – $10.00 depending on where you buy it and sometimes they are on sale for a little bit cheaper. (But I’ve never seen it under CA$5.00)

I’ve been using this toner for about 1 month now and I think I am ready to share my thoughts on it. Long story short, it’s an OK toner. It’s not something I love, but I don’t hate it either. The toner is clear and very waterly, like what you would expect a toner to be. It does not have much of scent and it does not irritate my skin. I use this toner twice a day with cotton pads swiping my entire face and neck. It feels pretty much like water on my skin, except it gives slightly refreshing feeling.

After using the toner, my skin does feel a little bit softer and I do think my pores are less visibl. However, I have pretty bad break-outs on my chin right now (which is NOT because of this toner) and this toner is not really helping to clear them out. I thought it might help because it contains witch hazel. I also don’t really like how fast it dries on my skin. I mean it does not dry my skin out, but as soon as I swipe it on my skin, it just kind of disappears. I hope it’s because my skin is absorbing it but I’m not so sure. On the official website, this toner is categorized under Cleansers, but I really can’t speak for it because I never rely on toners to remove make-up or anything. There is never any residue on the cotton pad when I swipe it on my face.

So over-all it’s a nice toner for the price, especially when I only paid US$3 for it, and I will finish using this bottle. However, it does not do anything special enough for me to repurchase it.

I finally got Clarisonic Mia! Super excited because I heard a lot (and by a lot I mean A LOT) of good review on this sonic face cleansing system. That is why I didn’t even try it yet and I’m posting about this.

I wanted Clarisonic for a long time because I get blackheads and whiteheads quite often. I did not buy it till now because I just thought it is too expensive. (CA$139 for Mia, CA$175 for Mia 2 at Sephora) I finally decided to buy it when I received email from Sephora about the Holiday Shopping event: 20% off entire store! (The email says it is VIB only event, so some of you might not qualify.)

To make things better, when I told my husband that I’ve finally decided to purchase Clarisonic, he told me he’d buy it for me as early Christmas gift. Although I know he’s buying it only because it’s 20% off now, I’m still super happy because I know he has absolutely no interest in any beauty products.

I was contemplating between Mia and Mia 2 for loong time. Mia only has 1 speed setting and 1 year warranty while Mia 2 has 2 speed setting, 2 year warranty, and travel pouch. In the end I chose Mia because the sales representative told me that she never changes her speed setting on her Mia 2 and I am not gonna be travelling for a long while.

The kit comes with a 30ml sample size Clarisonic Refreshing Gel Cleanser. (see 2nd photo) The sales representative recommended me using Clarisonic with Fresh Soy Face Cleanser and gave me a 20ml sample. (see 1st photo) I’ve read really good reviews on both of these cleansers and I will enjoy using them, but ultimately I’m planning to use my Clarisonic with Philosophy Purity Made Simple. Ahhh can’t wait!

What is your experience with Clarisonic? Do you like them? Let me know in the comment section

I lost my Urban Decay Naked palette about 5 month ago. I was sad for a while but I just moved on because I figure I had enough eye shadows to use in stead of the Naked palette. But the other day, I saw a blog post about this fabulous “Back to Basics” palette comparison to the Naked palette here.

Quo is a Shopper Drug Mart exclusive cosmetic brand. I’ve used their makeup brushes and they are great. However I have never purchased their makeup so I was just really motivated to buy this palette. This palette is CA$25 + tax (CA$28) and the Naked palette is CA$60 + tax (CA$67.20). The colour range looks very similar to the Naked palette.

I do not have the Naked palette any more so I can’t do the comparison, but you can see the swatch comparison in the blog post I linked earlier. I tried some shades on my finger and I think they are not as pigmented as the Naked palette. The Naked palette eye shadow has more of smooth and almost moist feel to it and Quo eye shadow is more powdery. On top of that, it does not come with primer potion and it contains less product, but I still think it is a great buy for CA$25. If you live in Canada, I recommend checking this palette out in store.

So, I know I am totally late for this bandwagon and everyone posted so much about this product already. I wanted to buy these long time ago, but I kept missing the sale and eventually I stopped looking. Today I went to a drug store to buy some grocery and found them on sale for 2 for CA$16. It is still not cheap because I know they went on sale for like CA$6 each many times but I thought I will never gonna suck it up and buy them if I miss this chance. So here they are, I bought 2 shades from this collection.

Above: Peach Parfait (front) and Pink Truffle (Back)

My first choice was Peach Parfait. I know a lot of bloggers liked this colour and it is a nice natural coral pink which is easy to wear for anyone. I kind of had hard time choosing 2nd colour because I wanted Berry Smoothie, but they were sold out. I also like Macaroon but they don’t seem to have that colour in Canada. There were many bright colours that are just too scary to me because I don’t wear bright colours. I know that they are kind of sheer so it won’t show up on my lips so neon-like, but I was still hesitant because I didn’t want to pay CA$8 for something that I just wear once or twice. Creamsicle or Creme Brulee seemed nice but I have so many nude lip sticks that I don’t even wear any more so I had to skip those 2, so in the end I chose Pink Truffle. It is darker than most of the lip stick I have but it seemed like a nice rich burned/chestnut red colour that is suitable for fall/winter. Below is both shades swatched on my lips. (I applied many strokes to get the colours show up richer)

I like both colours so far and I can see myself wearing them daily. They are moisturising and the pigmentation is buildable. To get them to look like above photo, I applied 3-4 strokes but you can wear them sheer to just get nice flash of colour on the lips. As you can see, Pink Truffle does not look pink at all on my lips, but that is because my lips are more red or brownish to begin with. It does not have any shimmer in it and is more pigmented than Peach parfait. Peach Parfait is a nice peachy pink with gold shimmer. I don’t mind some shimmer in my lip sticks but if you don’t like shimmer, don’t get this colour. This one is way more sheer than Pink Truffle and it looks almost like lip gloss. They are both kind of sticky so if you have long hair, it might be a problem. Lasting power is not the best but it lasts a little bit longer than L’Oreal Caress Color Riche lip sticks in my opinion.

After applying them on my lips, I though they looked a little bit like some lip sticks I have. So I pulled them out to compare.

Peach Parfait looks a lot like MAC Sheen Supreme Lip Stick in Bare Again in the photo above, but Bare Again is A LOT more pigmented so it did not look similar on the lips. I thought Pink Truffle looked kind of like Viva Glam V, but when I compared them, Peach Parfait ended up looking more like Viva Glam V because of the shimmer. However, overall Revlon Lip Butters are way more sheer than any MAC lip sticks I have and they were not dupes or anything…